In Defiance of the Queen
by Thistlescratch
Summary: Angered by a foolish dare, Kaoru enters the Elf Queen's forest to retrieve a rose. However, the guardian of the forest, a mortal man like herself, steals her heart. What will she do to rescue him? Based on the Ballad of Tam Lin.
1. Chapter 1

AN: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or the Ballad of Tam Lin.

For the umpteenth time that day, Kaoru cursed her own stupidity. She shouldn't have let herself be goaded into anger by the idiots at her father's dojo, but it was not for no reason that her temper was famed throughout the village. The Dojo Louts, as she had taken to calling her father's more stupid students, had managed to tease her into anger and rashness. Again. And this time, she had been the dumbest one. Though she should have known better, they let her talk herself into shouldering her bokken, tying a green ribbon into her hair, and walking into the Fairy Queen's forest. According to the Dojo Louts, it was supposed to be a test of her courage (as if being the only girl in a sword dojo wasn't a test of just that…). And she had to pick a rose from the glade to prove she'd been there. Stupid, stupid, stupid…

But really, it was her own fault. She shouldn't have let them talk her into it, and here she was, in the middle of the Queen's forest, wearing a hair-ribbon of the fairies' own color, trying to snatch one of their forbidden flowers. She sighed, and untangled her sleeve from the long canes of thorns that seemed to reach out to grab her. Squaring her shoulders once more, she set straight off through the forest, thwacking the low-hanging branches and clinging underbrush out of her way with the bokken her father had carved her out of blessed rowan-wood. She wouldn't let some prissy Elf-whore keep her out of this forest! She was Kamiya Kaoru, chieftain's daughter, and heir to all the lands around her dojo. She snorted, filled with righteous indignation, and started hacking harder. This was _her_ land, and she had every right to be on it.

The anger kept away the fear as long as she could keep the rhythm of her swings up, but when she stumbled into a clearing, the fear came flooding back as she was reminded exactly where she was. The line between the clearing and the forest was sharp and exact, and the verdant carpet of grass came exactly up to the edge of the trees. There was no intrusion of forest undergrowth in the elf-circle, and no grass dared leave its protection and grow elsewhere. Golden bells were hung from the trees, announcing her presence (unless the frantic beating of her heart drowned them out). Most dangerously—for nothing is ever made by the Elf-Queen without a purpose—the garden was thick with rosebushes. They were as red as the setting sun, their petals bloody against the green leaves and long, wicked thorns. The leaves, indeed, could hardly be seen, there we so many roses spilling out from each bush.

Kaoru stepped forward. There were so many roses that surely the Queen wouldn't miss just one…and if she had a rose, one of the Queen's roses, maybe the Louts would stop trying to kiss her and touch her: the same favors they either took or stole from the other village girls.

She took another step. The golden bells were still ringing, even though there was no wind in the fairy circle. But it was a soft noise, gentle, almost…she found she rather liked it, though first it had unnerved her. She looked up at the sky. Night was falling, and the forest beginning to grow quiet around her, except for the golden bells. She felt sleepy, and it smelled so nice here, with all of these beautiful roses…Roses. There was something about roses she should remember…Oh! Yes, she needed one, didn't she…Well, might as well get it now, before she fell asleep. That way she could stroke the downy petals as she lay on the soft turf…

Her hand closed around the stem, pricked and scratched by the cold, black thorns. It didn't matter, though. She had her rose, and it was so beautiful, so beautiful…She was ready to go to sleep now, mother…and she felt her eyelids drooping shut…so pleasant to drift into sleep and leave her worries behind her…

"Lady…Lady, don't do that…" the harsh, low voice startled her out of her reverie, and she found herself wide awake, clutching a single rose to her chest, blood streaming down her hand and arm. She whirled her bokken shifting clumsily as she held it in only one hand. The speaker was…startling. He stood at the far side of the grove, clutching at a low-hanging branch as if it were his salvation, half straining toward her and half shying away from her as if repulsed. His hair was nearly the color of the roses, a heady scarlet that made her want to dig her fingers into it and play with it—but that was just an elvish glamourie, surely. His eyes were…captivating and inhuman. They were a hot, hungry amber that drank in her body, and she felt herself shivering under his gaze. She tore herself away from his stare out of embarrassment, only to find herself entranced by the rest of his body. He wore a loose white shirt that did little to conceal the fine play of muscles underneath tanned skin, and his doeskin breeches hugged his strong legs. A fine golden chain was looped about his neck, and golden bells, miniatures of the ones that hung between the trees of the grove, dangled on it. The elf-queen's mark, a livid cross, blazed out from his cheek. She was so enthralled by his unearthly beauty that she was startled to find that he had crossed the clearing and grabbed her wrist. He wasn't over-gentle, either. For some reason she felt slightly miffed about that.

"Lady, why are you here?" his voice was sorrowful and weary. "You're from the village. You know that this is the Elf-queen's land. Why are you here?" A dull anger was burning in his amber eyes, but not, she thought, at her.

"I can go where I like!" she replied hotly. "My father owns these lands, it's the Elf-bitch who shouldn't be here!" Living in close proximity to the Dojo Louts had given her a Mouth, as her father called it, affectionately. The strange man, however, was not in the least amused. In fact he looked…frightened?

"Don't call her that!" He shuddered, then squared his shoulders, seeming to make up his mind about something. "I need to get you out of here before she realizes…" He seized her wrist tightly, presumably to lead her out of the forest, but a pained expression crossed his face and he began to tremble violently. Though his clenched teeth he seemed to be repeating something over and over again like a prayer. Kaoru looked up at him, confused and frightened. The look of innocent vulnerability seemed to crack something inside of him, and with a groan like a wounded man, he crushed his mouth to hers, kissing her thoroughly and roughly. She struggled, some, but the man's captivating eyes had seared her body, and, though she had no experience in such things, he seemed to be an excellent kisser, lighting fires all over her body. She could feel the elvish glamouries wrapping themselves around her, telling her to give herself to this man, to submit to his every whim, to be his chosen pet—and she didn't care. Her whole world was wrapped up in the kiss and the man giving it to her. She responded eagerly and urgently to his lips with the clumsiness of a virgin. He broke away from her, staring at her wild-eyed and frantic.

"No…No, not you, Lady…I won't do this to you…Not to someone pure…" He backed away from her, stricken, nauseated and ashamed. "Leave the forest; never return. It's not safe here, not for you, not for anyone," He was halfway across the clearing at this point, pleading desperately with her. "Go, please…Leave me, but ask…ask your father of the lost swordsman of these woods," The words seemed to cost him a great deal; they were wrenched out of his throat painfully, and as soon as they were released, he vanished back into the forest, the same way that he had arrived. The wisp of breeze set the golden bells to ringing; they didn't sound soothing or harmonious any more. Night was falling in the glade, and the fairy bells seemed to shine with their own malevolent light. With fingers made clumsy by fear, she ripped the green ribbon from her hair, leaving it to lie on the grass of the glade, and ran through the forest as if the very demons of hell were chasing her.

Through that whole, awful flight, gripping her bokken like a lifeline and pelting through the trees like a frightened animal, Kaoru was sure she heard someone, or some thing, following her. Sometimes it was the faintest hint of a silent watcher, but sometimes she fancied she heard the ring of a bridle and the belling of hounds behind her. She was nearly out of her mind with fear when she broke out of the forest into the balmy summer night. Bright stars shone down, and a crescent moon spread a silver mantle across the greensward that separated the town from the cursed forest. It was an extremely pretty sight, but at that moment, Kaoru was only thinking of the red flickering of a fire, snug rooms and fast doors bolted fast with Cold Iron. Shuddering, her clothing torn to rags and coated with the dirt of the forest, she slunk back into her father's house and buried herself in her bed, begging for sleep to come.

AN: Okay, this story might need a little explanation, and it will probably be better if you know the general gist of the original story. The Ballad of Tam Lin is an old Scottish ballad, and many, many stories of it's original meanings exist. There are also many versions. I don't want to bore you all with the minute details, but I can recommend several websites for those of you who are actually interested.

Http(colon) /(slash) www(dot)tam-lin(dot)org/ is the best website I've found so far for information about the original ballad, and the band Outgrabe has an excellent rock version that you can listen to free online at http(colon)/(slash)outgrabe(dot)com(slash)mp320L20and20D/Tam20Lin(dot)mp3 . This is the version I listened to through the entire writing of this first chapter, and I think it really captures the feel of the song very well. Thanks for reading so far, and there should be another chapter up soon!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Kenshin isn't mine, but I borrow him from time to time.

What was he going to tell Her? Kenshin only capitalized the pronoun in his mind when speaking of his mistress, the Elf Queen. He shivered, his ropey body cold with fear even in the balmy summer night. He wasn't ashamed of being frightened—what mortal man could claim he wasn't? Tomoe…He whisked the Queen's True Name out of his mind. She could be watching, and he wasn't supposed to know it.

He was ghosting through the undergrowth at a pace he could have never matched before he was captured, utterly silent, yet hounded constantly by a Lady he feared. He felt sick and tired, but fully and doggedly aware. His last dregs of mortal strength were being drained, and after that there would only be the frenetic energy of an elf-knight. Still, he was driven on to a duty he was loath to perform at a breakneck speed. As the fairest knight of his Lady's court, his presence was required nightly to warm the Queen's bed—and whatever else She could, and did, command. Make no mistake, his Queen was fair—but the petulant fury behind Her pretty face would be enough to sour any man's stomach. Worse, not only was he compelled to be Her toy, but during the disgusting parody of love She turned his mind against him, making him Her eager servant and sending him from her bed shuddering with spent pleasure. He hated her.

As he sped through the forest, forbidden thoughts filled his head. _The girl…_ she had blundered into the glade, seemingly innocent of the danger she was in. Her innocence was so refreshing, so clean, after the years of tainted lust and jaded cynicism he had known as a member of the fairy court. Her blue eyes hovered just out of his reach, and at that moment he wished even harder for his freedom, even if it was only in death. _I hurt her…_ He felt sick with guilt. It could have been worse, much worse. His…compulsions…when it came to guarding the rose-grove of the Queen were simple and powerful. He was to kill every man that entered, and to force himself upon every woman. He had killed several; that weighed heavily enough upon his conscience, but today was the first time his resolve had been tested against the second commandment of his mistress. He was glad he had resisted, but if she found out…He shuddered a second time. He wasn't exactly sure what the punishment would be, but he was sure it would be horrible.

He had just finished locking the offending memories away in the darkest corner of his mind when his unstoppable, compelled feet lead him to the deepest hallow of the elves' forest. The Queen was waiting for him at the entrance to the strange place, and as She touched him, Her changes swept over his body and mind. His hyper-alert posture relaxed into a supple, lazy grace, and his hard-edged amber glare, so angry with the world around it, became a retiring violet. His hair lightened to a more human red, and a stupid smile touched his lips though he was not truly happy. They walked through the fairy's Hill together, awash in the blue light of their magic. Tall trees grew in tortured shapes all around them, and eldritch forms peered out from between the leprous leaves. All of the elven-kin wanted to catch a glimpse of their Queen, with her stomach-twisting elegance and haughty beauty, but the chilling vice his mind was caught in and the icy hand on his arm were all that prevented Kenshin from fleeing for his life.

They were in her bower, now. He would have shuddered, but for the control his Lady held on his body. Cobwebs were woven together to be her blankets and tapestries, and the sickly glow that lit the rest of the Hill was intensified here to a nearly blinding glare. The Queen smiled, her beautiful face reaching for the sunny innocence of a maiden's as she led the hapless knight to her bed. Kenshin knew what was coming. He would be used, manipulated, drained of power and energy and left begging for more of the pleasure she gave him.

_I don't want this!_ His thoughts turned to the girl, the blessedly human woman that he had met. _Her…It's her I want. _ But it was too late, nearly seven years too late. He was the Queen's now, and as he lay in her bed, he could already feel his body responding to her magical touch. She snaked her arms around his neck, deftly stripping the clothing from his body and leaving him bare to whatever horrors she wished to wreck upon his body. Pale hands like moths ghosted over his form, eliciting groans of pleasure and sucking in his energy and life force. _Thief! Rapist! _But it was useless to scream at her in his mind. As she took his body completely, Kenshin willed himself away from consciousness and into a dreaming state of non-existence. It wasn't worth staying to watching his body and soul be degraded like this.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For Kaoru, the next few days were blurred. She went through the motions of living, but her heart and mind were both centered on the stranger she had met in the elf grove. _This is silly! _She told herself. _You don't know his name, he's obviously elf-kin, and he tried to force himself on you. Why should you care about him at all?_

But it was useless. He was all she could think about, and questions that she had never before thought to ask about the elves and their ways burned through her mind. She woke every morning with golden eyes lingering, the last wisps of dreams, and found that she could only fall asleep wrapped in the memory of his hair and hands. She was distracted, careless…obsessed. She was sleepwalking down the path to the well, daydreaming about the forest and almost tempted to find the grove again when she walked into a well-muscled male chest. Startled, she looked up into the harsh brown eyes of the leader of the Dojo Louts, who leered down at her disgustingly.

"It's a little dangerous, isn't it? Walking this close to the forest, not paying any attention, and you such a pretty little thing…It would be a shame if the elves stole you away, wouldn't it?" He drawled the words out, obviously undressing her with his eyes. She snarled, filled with disgust.

"As if you would know! You never go ten feet into the forest—not even to gather firewood with the old women!" Judging from the expression on the thug's face, this had not been a smart thing to say. Kaoru blindly reached for her bokken, which should have been strapped to her back. It wasn't there. In her distraction, she had forgotten to bring it. Panic flooded through her, sharpening her vision and her hearing. Her heart thudded in her ears as the big man stroke closer and closer. She was left without any time to make a rational decision, and instead of fleeing for the relative safety of the town and her father's house, she turned and bolted for the woods. As she slipped through the undergrowth, she allowed herself one glance backwards. The Lout was staring at her as if she had suddenly grown horns, and was slowly backing away from the forest's edge. She didn't care. She just wanted to get away from the hateful man and stop feeling so sick.

Though she didn't know it or even intend it, her feet were carrying her down the same path she had taken just days before. The long, slender scar she had cut through the forest was still there, manifesting the power of the rowan-wood bokken she didn't have with her. This time, though, the journey to the rose-grove didn't take hours, it took mere minutes. When she stumbled out onto the velvety greensward she wasn't even out of breath, though she had been pushing herself as fast as she could go on the narrow path. She flung herself down onto the soft grass, shuddering and replaying what had just happened, but fighting back the tears for all that she was worth. She was so caught up in her own misery that she didn't even notice when the red-haired man materialized from the far side of the grove.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kenshin's life had become more painful since he met her—but not because of the Queen. She, thank the Lord, was still ignorant to the fact that Kenshin was dreaming of someone else. No, the life hadn't changed, but one important thing had been added: hope. He was terrified of it, knowing that he could only be hurt worse because of it, but every time he tried to return to the dull blankness that shielded him from any more pain, her blue, blue eyes, raven hair and lithe form taunted him back to awareness. Perhaps the most painful thing was the thought of never seeing her again. Not only did she tug at his heart in a way he had never known before, even when living in the company of other humans (that life was as distant as a faded dream, now), she was blessedly, blessedly human. The spark of warmth, of life and love, that was so blaringly absent in the elves was bright as a bonfire in her eyes. He wanted to bask in it and let the delicious heat soak into his tired form. To him, she was like a breath of air to a drowning man—but perhaps only to keep him alive a little longer, to suffer the agonies of drowning a second time.

Kenshin was mulling this over in the crotch of a tree when he felt the twin stirrings of rage and lust that warned him of an intruder in his grove. He grabbed his blade, slung it across his back, and was in his glade, a half-mile away, with a thought. Living with the elves had changed him. His blade was half-drawn, all the anger and frustration ready to boil out of him, when he realized who it was. His beautiful, precious human girl lay sobbing on the grass. Somehow, the black tide of twisted lust drained out of him. The same could not be said for the anger, but its motivation was changed. Instead of killing any man that entered the clearing, it now had one target—whoever had made his lady weep. He was content to wait for that killing until he could find out who exactly he was supposed to kill.

"Lady?" His voice still sounded hoarse from disuse. "Lady, what's wrong?" He squatted on the grass beside her, still feeling the desperate need to touch her, to make everything right for her, to defend her. He shoved it away. He couldn't have her. The girl looked up at him with fearful eyes. Mentally replaying their last meeting, he couldn't blame her. Backing up a few steps, he settled down onto the impossibly-smooth grass, looking at her with hungry eyes.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AN: Hmm. People seem to like this story. What an odd feeling…Anyway, this time I don't have a really good excuse about how long this update took, just that this story isn't coming to me as easily as other things I've written. Including some essays for philosophy, which is sad, in a way. But hey, I've got this up and the next chapter started, so maybe I'll get that up in a more timely fashion.

And maybe Kenshin will ride up to my apartment on a white horse and whisk me away to a castle in the sky. Yeah.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Not mine. Bugger.

* * *

The forest around the Fairy's grove became unnaturally silent as the two faced off across the clearing. The only sound that could be heard was the gentle yet sinister chiming of the golden bells draped between the trees. Kaoru stared at the man in front of her, his lean body and piercing, hot eyes reminding her unshakably of the lion her father's court had received as a gift for valor in war. The beast had been glorious…at first. The relentless captivity and the tight iron bars of its cage had killed the poor animal, but not before it was driven mad and set to endless pacing within its tight cage. She wondered if there was any truth to the comparison. 

He spoke. "Lady, would you tell me your name?" She hesitated. To tell and Elf your name, straight from your own lips, was nothing short of a masochist's suicide. His ears were no indication of his humanity, it could easily be a glamourie cast to fool her. There was only one certain test.

"Iron!" He stared at her in slight bafflement, so she explained. "Touch a piece of iron for me; prove you're human…and I'll tell you my name." She grinned triumphantly.

"Lady, I fear I have no iron. Slave to the Fair Court that I am, it would be worse than my death to even know where I could get it." Kaoru frowned, then unclasped the cloak pin from her throat. She tossed it to him in one smooth movement, and he caught the twisted knot of metal with instinctive grace. He held the pin loosely in his palm, hand outstretched so that she could see that his skin didn't scorch.

"I am Himura Kenshin, once an earthly knight, now slave to the Queen of the Fair Folk," he said quietly, almost as if he was talking to himself. It was…difficult to talk about who he was before. Both shame and the Queen's compulsions stopped his throat, but somehow, for this girl, it was extremely important to know and to be known.

"I am Kamiya Kaoru," the girl replied, unconsciously echoing his soft tone, but without his shame. "Thank you…Kenshin." The way she said his name was…good. He shivered slightly, but warmth rushed through his body, powerful and comforting. With a word, with his name in her mouth, he was hers. Oh, the Queen's chains were still there, no chance of those bonds being so easily loosened, but heart, mind and soul, he was Kaoru's. The name was as sweet as honey to him, a prayer to recite in the darkest corners of his mind when he had to retreat from reality. Oh, Kaoru…his first breath of air in years, his first glimpse of sun…He dimly wondered at the intensity of his reaction, but merely hoped it wouldn't startle her. It didn't bother him, he was Kaoru's.

* * *

_Kenshin_…The name suited him perfectly, she thought. He was staring at her as if enraptured (though surely it couldn't be her beauty that caught his eye). His eyes, molten gold and hot enough to burn her where she stood, were not raking over her body like she would have expected, but instead softly caressing it, savoring each small part of her and recording it for later, leaner times. She found herself moving towards him. When she was in reach, he pulled her close, and she wondered at how well she fit into his arms. This was all so sudden, she didn't know him, _what if he was like the men from the village?_ She was afraid, and yet so sure of how right this was. How could she be torn like this?

"Kenshin…"she whispered, tensing in his arms, pulling away. "This is…too much…" She shivered, her traitorous body warming to his touch. His arms fell away, and whatever shadow of the great and noble creature that might have remained was gone in an instant. His beautiful, feral eyes were hunted, and she finally realized just how small his wiry frame was. Horrified by the change she had wrought in him, she reached out to grab his hand where it lay in his lap. He seemed so forlorn she wanted to take _him _into _her_ arms. She traced her fingers over the fine, thin skin of his face, and her hands, calloused from work and the sword, caught on the livid edges of his Elf-mark. Some kind of deep, burning anger flickered behind his dull eyes when she touched it, but somehow, she wasn't afraid.

"Who did this to you?" she whispered, speaking not only of the scar, but also of his shattered fragility. The banked anger, so carefully hidden in his gaze, flared, and he snarled, his face a rictus of pain.

"The Queen." No explanation was needed. Silent understanding flowed between them, and she moved to embrace him. For a moment he was hopeful, eager, yearning, but his eyes suddenly turned feral again, flicking back and forth in panic. "She is calling me," he forced out between his teeth. "You have…have to go. Please…" he grabbed her hand desperately. "Please, visit me again?"

"Of course," she breathed, and she pressed a kiss into his palm. "Of course, always…"

But then his was gone, not even a flickering shape in the trees.

* * *

The Queen had hung her bower with the blue and purple lanterns that she favored. She lounged under the canopy, draped in the purest white damask. The irony of the cloth, which suggested purity, youth and innocence, did not escape her.

"So, my dear," she purred, "Give me your report. What is happening in My outlying territories?"

"Nothing, my Lady," he murmured politely. She had bound him into the tamed, docile version of himself that she found amusing to bait. Marked by stupid, soft violet eyes, changed with strange mannerisms and turns of phrase, he felt like retching as he rolled over and begged for her favor.

"Nothing, my dear Kenshin?" she questioned, raising one eyebrow archly. "I was aware of a disturbance in My rose-grove this very day--and it too k you much longer than usual to suppress the intrusion. Might I ask for an explanation?"

"Ah, of course, Lady. That was no one but another foolish seeker of fame and elvish gold. He was possessed of unusual strength and speed, for a mortal, but, improved as I am, it was not too much to finish him off." There, that should cover him fairly well, if he could just keep the longing chorus of "Kaoru" to a whisper. The best thing, he thought, about this degraded form of his, was that his mistress was very trusting of his words while he was in it. Though it limited him, severely enough to make him a weaker fighter (which is why she let him revert when he was guarding her groves), he had long ago learned to lie to her. She stared at him for a long moment with eyes no mortal creature could possess, then waved her hand dismissively.

"You may go now, my pet." He seethed a little at the nickname, but for him, it was physically impossible to let his irritation show. He simply bowed his head in acceptance, and backed out of her presence, keeping his head lowered. She summoned another, more exalted courtier to take his place, murmering something about dining with the High King in a week's time. He paid it no heed as he loped off to his own little corner of the court.

* * *

The Queen of Air and Darkness, the High Elven Lady Tomoe languidly caressed the flaxen head of the Knight that brought her the evening repast she had requested. Picking at the fruit and ice, she turned once again to the envoy of the foreign Elves.

"You are saying that you wish for a formal alliance between our Courts? This is indeed excellent news." Her voice was soft and lilting, entirely different from the throaty, possessive purr she had used on her pet. The elvish envoy was sable-haired, with emerald-green, cat-pupiled eyes. He spoke with a strange, slithering accent that seemed to worm its way out of his mouth before he could properly form the words.

"Lady Tomoe, I believe my King would be interested in an…exchange of pets, to seal our alliance." A wicked light dawned in the Queen's eyes. Recently, she had grown bored with her pet human. His spirit was broken, and as he no longer fought against her chain, he no longer amused her. Perhaps she should request a girl-child, it had been a while since she broke one of those to her whip…Tomoe smiled icily. This alliance should prove most profitable--after all, wasn't this an auspicious beginning?

"When shall we conduct the transfer and officially begin the alliance, Lady?" the dark-haired toady asked tentatively. He was anxious to bring this news back to his master before the Lady decided to use him for her amusement. Normally, he would be safe, as it was a serious breach of etiquette to abuse an envoy, but Tomoe was so powerful politically and magically that she could virtually do what she wanted without any real fear. Even his master was frightened of this Lady, though he dared not show it.

"Let us set the date for three weeks from now, I believe. That will be, after all, Samhain Night, and all the mortal fools will be safe at home in their beds for fear of us. We will have no interference, then."

After the date was set, Tomoe lured the envoy back to her bower. She could send her response to the foreign king through magic, after all, and it would be a crime to waste such a pretty elf-boy.

* * *

AN: I think it's indicative of how tired I am that I forgot to add a disclaimer or author's notes until about ten minutes after I posted for the first time. Maybe I should take a nap. Nahhh…. 


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or the Ballad of Tam Lin (though I think that's in the public domain by now...)

* * *

She hadn't seen him in four weeks, and though she hated to admit it, the lack of him was like a hollow ache inside her. His haunted, haunting gaze had opened up some strange, empty place inside her that only seemed to be filled when she her nose was filled with the pine and ginger scent of his hair. Discouraged, her fruitless visits to the Fairy's forest had dwindled to nearly nothing, but life in the village seemed dull, grey and lightless. Simply living seemed too heavy, a weight on her neck that sent shooting pains through her head and back and lowered her eyes to the ground. If even Kenshin, the solitary prisoner of the elves, didn't think she was worth spending time with, then she must truly be worthless. The flat sameness that settled into her life was stifling at first, but she got used to it. High summer was far over, and the first threats of winter seemed to be in the air. The village's Equinox festival was drawing close, and Kaoru busied herself with the preparations and the harvest. This season was so busy that no one really had time for trysting, and she was fairly successful in banishing the hungry memories until the nightmares came.

* * *

_The branching antlers strapped her head chafed, and the tiny golden bells strung on the branching shards of bone gave away her position at every movement. Her body, hard and wiry, should have obeyed her commands better, but the trembling hunger in her belly sapped the strength from her scarred arms and legs. Red hair--her own, she thought, whipped around her eyes and confused her sight, then tangled in the low hanging branches and impeded her further. She could faintly hear the belling of hounds in the distance, and though the moon overhead was high, bright and full, she feared that it only showed her more clearly to her pursuers. Her heartbeat hammered in her ears, but more than fear she felt crazy, blinding rage. She was being hunted like a mere animal, and though she would never be strong enough to do it, she wished desperately to tear her hunters limb from limb and feed them to their own hounds. She slipped back into the heavy shadows between the old oak trees, moving as silently as she could, always praying for the sound of a stream, or even a low-hanging tree branch. If she was going to escape, then she would need to be more than just a dumb animal. Raking a hand through the red hair that tangled her with the trees and narrowing her golden eyes, she husbanded her strength for the one jump she knew she had left in her. _

* * *

And awoke, her shift sweat-plastered to her body and her eyes still slightly crazed with fear. That had been Kenshin, she knew it, and the dream, more real and urgent than she had ever dreamed before, was still driving her. She bolted silently out of the straw-stuffed tick that served as her bed, and slipped through the house, pilfering a loaf of heavy oat-bread and a few small rounds of cheese, as well as the watered wine-flask her father drank when just home from the fields. Somehow, she knew where she needed to be.

The horse that carried her to the crossroads by the forest wasn't exactly her own, but it was her third cousin's, and she intended to return him as soon as she was home, so it didn't really count as stealing. Anyway, he was the fastest horse in the village, and the best jumper too, so it made sense to take him and not her little pony. The moon had turned the road to hammered silver, and she made it to the edge of the forest just in time to see a pale, crazed figure break out of the forest. She was off the horse in a heartbeat and running toward him, her heart breaking as she saw how emaciated he was. His shirt was in tatters, his hair wild and snarled around his antlers, and she saw that bloody lesions had opened where the cruel things rubbed against his skull. He was barely coherent, but he clung to her with all the strength that he had left in him, as if he could draw strength from her that way. He couldn't truly get the strength he needed from her, so she broke away to give him the watered wine and bread. No words were exchanged until at least a little of the food and all of the water was inside him.

"Kaoru…" his voice was a hoarse croak. "Kaoru, you've got to help me." He broke off, dry coughs racking his slender body, but he still held her rapt attention. "The Lady," he spat out, "Intends to use me as a bartering chip with another elf King. She'll be traveling to the meeting place in three days, where they'll have a Hunt." He laughed darkly. "It turns out that the Elvish king has no great lust for pretty boys, so they've decided to use me as the fox in their hunt. Isn't it beautiful to see such different people working together?" His stab at humor fell short, and his cough started again. He turned pleading, amber eyes on the girl before him, his hands tight on her arms. "The old legends say that…that a Champion, fighting for a captive of the elves, can challenge the Queen on the night of her Hunt and take home the prize…" He trailed off, a strange look in his eyes.

"How?" Kaoru whispered. There was no question of whether or not she would do it. Kenshin lifted his eyes her hers, burning desire and fear and hope all mingled together, sparking bittersweet pangs in Kaoru's heart.

His answer was a half-whispered prayer, supplicant to goddess: "Love me." When Kaoru merely looked at him, with a thousand questions in her eyes, the explanations babbled out in a rush of words. "I'm the Queen's creature now, bonded to her, body and soul, but if you love me, and lay with me…it will give you enough of a foothold on my soul to win it. If you do this now, then three nights from now drag me off the horse the Lady gives me, while they're journeying to the meeting place, then she'll have as little power over me as she's had in years. If you manage to hold me in your arms all through the transformations she puts me through, then you'll have me, body, mind and soul." He looked at her soberly, the weight of pain behind his tired eyes. "She will turn me into wild creatures, dangerous things meant to scare you, but Kaoru," he breathed her name with fear and reverence, "You won't be hurt. I swear it. If you would be hurt, then I would never allow you to help me, and no matter what seeming that witch gives me, I swear that I am no more or less than the man who loves you."

A pang of fear shot through Kaoru's heart--he wanted that, from her? She would be willing to do anything else, but…this? Would he just take it, like the others had tried to? His hands were kind and gentle, and his words, if not courteous, fell somewhere in her soul and seemed to fit, only to make room for more of them. She never wanted his beguiling words and that silk-and-steel voice to stop, but she could still remember the terrifying look in his eyes the day they had met. The tense lines of his shoulders seemed to move in her mind's eye, to force her and break her. She could die for loving him.

"_Kaoru, please…_" So. She had no choice. She was already lost to him, and her sanity with it.

"I'm…yours, Kenshin." And so it seemed that love was surrender and defeat.

But, it seemed, not dishonor. His hands were gentle as he cupped her face, and smoothed the hair that fell into her eyes away. He moved warily, like a man not trusting his good fortune, and kissed her lips softly, desperately. The pads of his fingers traced the line of her jaw and swept into the dark fall of her hair, tilting her head and pulling her closer. The soft sweeps of desire stirred in her, like eyes opening for the first time, only to see the faintest of light. She had no idea what she should do, or, for that matter, even what she could, but somehow (she never found the air to ask), Kenshin knew what would help her, and he did help her, as much as he could. It…still hurt, and there was no moment of blissful transcendence, but when they were finished and he cradled her in his arms, whispering softly that when he had the time and the strength for her, it would be another thing entirely, she found that she was changed. Expanded, perhaps. She slept, lightly, but when she woke, he was gone, leaving the smell of blood and smoke where he had lain. He left her a whisper, too, lingering in her mind.

"Three days, love. Look for me at midnight by the crossroads." The three brilliantly red hairs she found curled in her palm, she spun into a twist of her finest wool.

* * *

Kaoru did not return to her village, except as a thief in the night. She had stayed out through the night a few times before, even by herself--but she knew that she would need more gear than one horse and the clothes she was wearing. Still, she didn't take anything that was vitally needed by anyone (excepting her own clothes, of course). So, the next night, her Cousin Aki's third-best knife was missing, along with the spare strikers from the little shrine, three horse blankets from various stables, and a generous supply of hay, with a little grain, from the other three stables in town. For her own food, she filched from her own pantry for a wheel of hard cheese, a few loaves of bread, along with a leather sling and some stones. She was fairly confident that she could make it for a few days on this.

It took her a while to find a stand of evergreen trees not within the confines of the Forest, but find one she did--and there was even a spring bubbling out of a rock face not half a mile away. Now, just to make camp--subsistence was all she had to kill the time, and for once, she had a full three days to kill.

It was well into the next day, in the last, lazy heat of summer that flooded the afternoon, that Kaoru really ran out of productive things to do. She wasn't well-acquainted with idle time that she hadn't stolen, and found herself quite at a loss. She was restless and eager for action, but at the same time paralyzed with fear. What if she completely screwed up and didn't manage to rescue him?

What if she herself was caught?

But fear itself didn't matter. She could still feel the pleading pressure of his eyes against all the barriers she had built up, and knew that with him, she didn't need them. The days dragged past slowly, but terrifyingly fast. A thousand times, she wanted to run back to the village, to the people that were at least familiar, away from elves and full moons and the tangle of rose-red hair that had snared her heart, but she couldn't…or didn't. She couldn't tell which.

* * *

The third day's sun set with a dreadful finality. She would do it tonight, or she would die. Somehow, that focused her thoughts wonderfully. She was a ways from the crossroads, and to be their before midnight, she set off as soon as the sun set. She hadn't been able to endure the thought of eating, but her poor horse had had a light meal of the last of the grain. His hooves were muffled with thick pieces of felt, and she had taken off all the unimportant bits of tack, so they moved with an eerie silence along the packed dirt of the road. At first, she could hear nothing but the rush of wind in her ears, but as the darkness grew, and she trotted past the edge of the forest, snatches of unearthly music teased her ears and phantom lights ghosted through the trees. She tried not to look too closely at them, huddled closer to her horse's neck, and focused entirely on the crossroads that grew slowly closer. She thought she could hear the fairy bells ringing in the forest, and she urged her horse on faster. The panic that her horse could smell on her urged the poor thing on faster, and they arrived faster than it seemed possible. She did not dismount, but urged her horse well off the path. If what she heard about the Queen and her Court was true, then they wouldn't notice her. She hoped.

She didn't have to wait for a long time before the band of elves emerged from the forest. The elf-lady she assumed could only be the Queen led them astride a black horse with red eyes, saddled with silver and swathed in a gown of true elf-green. Merely looking at her, from this distance, Kaoru could see how she had first enslaved Kenshin. She was breathtakingly beautiful. Kaoru, at a contrast, felt the heat burning in her cheeks. She was nothing but a rough, ugly little tomboy compared to this vision of ethereal loveliness. Her hands tightened on the reins, and considered giving up. How could she possibly compete with the Queen?

But Kenshin had asked her to save him, so she must not be who she looked like. She slipped off her horse's back silently, dropping down onto her heels as she hit the ground, and watched the Elven procession intently. Kenshin wasn't at the front of the line, no, he was at the tag end, staring blindly forward, his hands fixed silently on the reins. Her heart leapt to her throat, clenching painfully. Even from a distance he seemed more painfully thin than he had a mere three days ago, and before she even knew that she was moving, she had covered half the distance between them. Another few heartbeats, and she was dragging him down from his high-canted saddle. Her heart broke at how thin and light he was, but she was still too weak to carry him far. She dragged him off the road and knew that she couldn't carry him any farther. His face was still blank and expressionless, and there was no life in his eyes (now deep purple, for some reason). Still, she clung to him, a wordless prayer echoing in her head that she could possibly save him. Thunder crashed over her bowed head, and she looked up into the terrible face of the Elf-Queen, still mounted on her black horse.

Kaoru's lip curled into a snarl as she saw the true nature of the soul behind the lovely face, and the Queen chuckled darkly.

"So, you're the mortal slut that's tempted my pet," she said contemptuously. "You'd like to keep him, would you? Well, I'm afraid I can't let you." She gave Kaoru a sickeningly sweet smile as she raised her hand, wind and lighting twisting around it, poised to strike.

"Wait!" Kaoru heard herself screaming against the storm, her arms tightening around the inert body of her lover, her nails digging into the skin of his arm. "Elf Queen, I'll make you a bet!" The silence that fell after her proposition hit her ears like a hammer, and the Queen wheeled her horse around to look Kaoru in the eye, judging her from the dirt under her fingernails to the tattered farmer's clothes. Though she felt like squirming in embarrassment, Kaoru held firm and matched the Queen glare for glare. She chose her words carefully, letting them drop into the preternatural silence like coins into a dark well. "I'll bet you my soul, Elf, that no matter you do to him, I'll never leave my Kenshin!"

The queen smiled cruelly and began gathering power in a sickly, flickering aura around her hands, but Kaoru allowed herself a moment of grim exaltation. She had goaded the bitch into doing what she wanted--and she thanked forever the Elvish weakness for games and contests. Tightening her grip on her unresponsive lover, she watched the Queen with ferocious eyes. The elf made a slashing motion with her hands, muttering strange, slippery-sounding words under her breath, and the flesh and cloth under Kaoru's hands began to bubble and twist. Kaoru felt her stomach turn, but held on all the tighter, even when the skin hardened and turned to scales. She glanced down, and only sheer stubbornness kept Kenshin in her arms. The Queen's magic had shifted his form into that of a huge snake, with heavy coils draped around her legs and arms. The beast that should have been her lover reared back to strike, his fangs dripping with a noxious poison. Kaoru squeezed her eyes shut and bit her lip, desperately playing back the words he had said to her, trying to believe that she wouldn't be killed.

The snake's strike never came. Scales bubbled again beneath her hands, shifting into hot, dry fur that smelled of musk and blood and sand. She dared to open her eyes again, and found herself looking into the coin-bright eyes of a lion, at least double the size of the one gifted to her father.. The huge, shaggy head of the creature was haloed by a thick and tangled yellow mane. She looked again, breathless with fear, but also awe. The lion smelled of sand and heat, and the latent power she could feel in the muscles of its shoulders was enormous, but Kaoru could tell that for all it's size, there was terrible speed in those paws--and if that was how large the cat was, the claws must be like knives! All these things passed through her brain in an instant, but after her surprised had passed, she clung to the animal as tightly as she could. Her arms were stretched to reach around the great cat's neck, but she clung for all her might, and though the thing bucked and writhed like mad, she managed to maneuver herself above it, and rode it as she would a horse. She came close to falling and losing her Kenshin too many times for her comfort, but she managed to stay on its back--until it collapsed suddenly into a single line of burning, blurring pain.

In the face of such pain, Kaoru's mind shut down entirely, and she held on only to the thought that she mustn't let go, no matter what. All thoughts of love, and Kenshin, and her anger were lost to the burning agony beneath her, and she lived in the eternal _now_ of the warrior. It could have been seconds or years when she joined the waking world again, and the pain became nothing but cool skin beneath her. She opened her eyes into Kenshin's lucid eyes of palest gold, and he smiled weakly up at her. Her arms were still wrapped firmly around his body in a possessive hold that not even the Elvish queen could deny. Though she still felt breathless and lightheaded from the pain and terror, she rose to her knees, keeping one arm draped around her prize, and glared straight into the eyes of the Queen.

"I've won!" she called out to the Queen, a swift, fierce exultation sweeping through her and seizing her heart. Maybe what she had felt earlier, the defeat and the fear, wasn't love. This joy felt much more like love should. "Do you give over?" But the Queen didn't answer. Her face was paler than ever with fury, and her hands twitched like she wanted to strike out, but it seemed like something was holding her hands down. Kaoru had always heard that to the Elves, wagers were sacred. There was no use sitting here and watching the Queen stew, so Kaoru helped Kenshin to stand, and they hobbled over together to Kaoru's cousin's horse. The poor thing complained a little about having to bear two riders, but they were both small--the animal could handle them both.

They paid no attention to the fairy band as they made their slow way back to the town. Eventually the minor imps gave up teasing them, and they were able to make the final leg of the journey home in peace. Kenshin slept fitfully against Kaoru's back, and Kaoru felt like nodding off herself, but she wanted to stay awake, just in case the Queen decided that she was not held by her oath…and Kaoru was torn. She didn't feel it was right to take her lover back to the village. They scorned even the magic-touched, there, out of fear, but at the same time, they both needed sleep and supplies. In the end, Kaoru compromised, and the slept on a pile of scratchy, but sweet-smelling hay in her father's stable. It felt right to drift off in Kenshin's arms, but Kaoru couldn't shake the nagging feeling that their troubles weren't over yet.

* * *

Author's Notes: Heeheehee, cliffhanger! Don't worry, I'm going to try to end this story fairly quickly, and this should be the penultimate chapter anyway, so don't worry too much. I'm a sucker for happy endings.

In other news, a one-shot should be posted fairly soon (and it should make more sense than the last). Just be on the look out for that, okay?


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I AIEN'T DED. Also, Rurouni Kenshin isn't mine.

* * *

Sometimes, Kaoru hated being right. Right now was one of those times. She had long ago beaten her fists black and blue against the rough wood of the stable door, her throat was rubbed raw from screaming and cursing her father, and she was as angry as she'd ever been while facing down the Queen. The day had started far too early that morning, when the milkmaid came in to milk the cows, and screamed as she saw the prodigal daughter in the arms of a naked man, sleeping in the hay. The screaming had brought her father, who had torn her out of Kenshin's arms, and, before she could react or even try to explain, had locked her in the stable. She could still hear, if faintly, the commotion outside. Kenshin had raised more of an uproar that she would have given him credit for. She hadn't been able to hear his voice, but something about the faint harmonics of it had made the hair at the back of her neck stand straight up. Her father wasn't a brave man, and though she had a hard time imagining mild-mannered, cowed Kenshin standing up to him, it seemed as if it was, in fact, happening—until silence fell. She waited, listening intently to the silence, until she became frustrated with the sound of wind in the trees and the clucking of chickens. The cows in the byre were no great company, either, and Kaoru's anger continued to build until she was finally compelled to move and _do_ something before she exploded.

She searched the stable for anything that she could possibly use to break herself out. Old, rotten leather wouldn't do her any good, and even the windfall apples had gone wormy. Through her anger, she could dimly feel hunger. But there was no point in listening to it. Breaking out was what was important. She spent what seemed like hours searching through the dusty hay in the loft of the stable (it was more like fifteen minutes), and found nothing but a few grey kittens and their tabby mother. She left them in their little cocoon in the hay, and headed back down the rickety stairs. If only she had her bokken! She was sure it would be rendered useless after the exercise, but she was also just as sure that she could beat a hole in the door with it, possibly one big enough to get through, or at least widen with her hands and feet, but she didn't have that kind of luck. She was fairly sure that her bokken was still resting in the groove between her pallet and the wall, safe within her house. Eventually, she found and old hoe, rusty with disuse, and thanked whatever gods were listening for it. She surveyed the doors for her point of attack, and found a small spot of dry rot in the lower corner of the left door. It would have to do. She swung, the hoe awkward in her hands, and struck the small patch of rot with the point of the hoe, feeling it bite and lodge deeply. She twisted it in her hand to wrench at the hoe, splinters piercing her skin. She growled under her breath at the door. It was wonderful to have something to do!

She had made a hole as big as her head when she heard the hoof beats outside. The little patch of dry rot had been demolished quickly, but once she hit good, solid wood, the going got a lot tougher, and the hoe blade was already twisted out of shape. Eventually she was going to try kicking at the hole, but when she heard the hoof beats, she knelt to look through the hole. She could see her uncle's leggy bay, and she panicked. If they took her to another building, they'd be sure to take away anything that she could get out with. Her heart dropped back to where it was supposed to be when she saw red hair, and she stood up quickly, falling into his arms as he opened the door. He held her at arms length until he had made sure that she wasn't hurt in any way, then crushed her to his chest, filling his lungs with the scent of her hair. Kaoru could practically feel knots of tension unraveling beneath her hands, and it was a long moment before Kenshin shuddered and released her.

"Kaoru." He seemed to savor her name, basking in the fact that he had her. "Do you want to get out of here?"

"Only if it's with you," she breathed, barely daring to believe that it could be true. He smiled broadly, the first real smile that she could remember seeing on his face, and handed her the green cloak that he had been draped in the last time she had seen him. Now, however, she noticed that he was clad in the same rough fashion of her village, in plain but sturdy clothing. The bay was saddled with a soft pad rather than a saddle, but behind the pad were saddlebags, wineskins and bedrolls. It was extravagant by her family's tight standards. "How did you get all of this?" she gasped, taking it in for the first time, now that she felt whole again.

"Your family seemed to find it an appropriate dowry, m'lady," her knight replied with a quirk of a smile in his voice. "It's not enough, to be sure, but it'll hold us until we get where we need to go. Now, dear Kaoru, would you like help mounting your horse?" She glanced behind him, and standing near the bay was the grey she had ridden just the night before. The poor beast still looked tired, but not dangerously so. It had gotten largely the same treatment Kaoru had—but to it, the stable was home, and hay quite good for sating hunger. No packs were laid across its back, but it wore the same kind of soft pad the bay did.

"Kenshin…truly, how did you get them to give you all of this?" She felt rather guilty, really. The two horses alone represented a sizeable chunk of what the village owned, and the gear added onto that could make like tough for a few families in the coming winter.

"What, don't you think this is a bride-price you're worthy of?" The smile in his voice warmed her heart. Just one day away from the Lords and Ladies, and he was already a more whole person. "Don't worry about it, m'lady Kaoru. We're going to be stopping at a place where we can repay your village's…generosity. Twofold, if you wish it." He cupped her chin in his hand and kissed her softly, gently—but hungrily. "To me, you are worth any price. I will send back four fine horses and any gear you think is needed to your village—but to get them, we have a bit of a ride."

Kaoru was increasingly realizing that she did not know her lover, and, though she didn't like this at all, she had received no unfortunate surprises so far, and was terribly eager to remedy the problem. They had talked for hours as their horses matched pace-for-pace along the king's road, Kenshin's heart finally lightened of the Queen's curse and free to speak of anything that he wanted to, so as they rode Kaoru learned the man she loved. The rolling hills and forests changed, somehow, and instead of close and threatening they became light and lacey, like a sylvan cathedral.

"We're actually headed to the court that I used to be a member of," he said softly, his voice mimicking the rhythms of the wind. "I'm not any more—the Queen made a point of telling me that I had been formally dismissed from the King's service as dead—but showing up dramatically should get me at least an audience, shouldn't it?" Kaoru thought he might be a little giddy with freedom.

"Kenshin, are you planning on staying there, becoming a knight again?" she asked, trying to keep the trepidation from her voice. Not only was she painfully aware of her lowborn, hick roots, she couldn't quite picture Kenshin as a knight anymore. The man was exceedingly gentle, for all his mischievousness, and the idea of him mounted upon a war-horse in full plate armor was patently ridiculous.

Not to mention that the cherished, golden dream of a little farm with lots of laughing children, fine horses and fat cows would be nearly impossible to achieve as a stuffy, polished Fine Lady from court. She didn't even have a clue about embroidery, and she doubted that the other ladies at court would be particularly willing to let her continue with her sword studies.

"I was actually only planning on staying there long enough to pry some supplies out of…whoever's in charge…and maybe a parcel of land, then setting out on our own and trying to make my own life—but only if it's what you want, love." Kaoru heaved a sigh of relief.

"No, that sounds wonderful to me. I don't know how well I would fit in, at Court,"

"Honestly, I don't think I would anymore either. After going through all of that, and after three whole generations of absence…I don't think I could take the stupid, petty politics of it all any more, much less fit in. It was an amusing enough game before, but now I can't think of it without seeing the Elvish court and how amusing they found playing with lives to be. Frankly, a simple farmstead sounds heavenly—especially if the King has our back, and there's no chance of us starving. How would you like to grow special treats for the palates of delicate ladies?"

Kaoru grinned broadly. "That sounds wonderful."

* * *

They wove dreams of the future through the growing twilight, but the night that was falling was not the night they had faced with fear and anger, and when they set camp for the night, they nestled into a hollow of the land that felt like a warm, supporting hand, with a slow, steady heartbeat to it that lingered just on the edge of awareness. This was not the wailing Elvish night, full of uncertainty and terror. Even though they were outdoors, unprotected by walls or iron, there was no sense of fear. The two bedrolls they piled together and slept in an exhausted tangle of limbs and hair, one content for now to simply have the other, one too nervous to ask for anything beyond what was given, and both of them exhausted by their series of long days. They curled together for warmth, for touch, and for the feeling of place and peace they found in each other's arms.

* * *

Kenshin strode into the rough stone hall, his shoulders thrown back and his feet crushing the straw on the floor, sweeping through the long building as if he owned it. Kaoru trailed nervously in his wake like so many dry autumn leaves, caught in his tail wind, glancing from side to side at the startled ladies and their warriors seated at the low benches. She would have remained by the door, if Kenshin hadn't been holding her hand so firmly, but as it was she was forced to follow him like so much trash stuck on the heel of his boot. She could hear the titters of the ladies (though they weren't any better, the trollops!), and felt her face coloring, but Kenshin never let his gaze waver from his destination, the High Table where a man in a white cloak sat. It was done in an archaic style, with wide wings of scarlet flaring out like dragon's wings around the head of a slender, ascetic looking man with close-cropped brown hair. From the set of her lover's mouth, it wasn't the man he had been expecting, but the fact didn't seem to daunt him. The white-cloaked man called out to Kenshin.

"Hail, stranger, and welcome." It was more of a formal greeting than any real sentiment.

"Welcome I hope to be, my Lord, but I am no stranger this court—or, I was not when I left. Tell me, are there none who keep records and know old stories here? For I am one who has not been seen since the reign of the Thirteenth King." His speech slipped farther and farther into the refined patterns of the court dialect, but Kaoru couldn't help but notice a few differences between Kenshin's speech and the courtiers that tittered amongst themselves. It was probably Kaoru's obvious bias, but Kenshin's words seemed so much stronger. "In any records that may still survive, I was known as Knight Himura the Swift." And now the titters shocked into dead silence, and with reason. Kaoru had heard fragments of those legends, and they weren't pretty. Knight Himura might have always fought on the side of the angels, but it could hardly be argued that he himself was one. Kenshin's hand loosened on her own, as if he was giving her permission to shrink back, if she so wished, but she clasped his hand tighter and stood up a little straighter. Hadn't she faced down greater foes than one slightly brutal knight?

"And what is your wish, Sir Knight?" the King asked, not letting trepidation show in his voice, but with none of the hearty bravado he had shown earlier.

"My wish is nothing you would begrudge me, Lord, nor anything too dear to your heart. I request food and lodging for my companion and I for tonight, and then, for the future, nothing more than a small parcel of farmland and the means to work it." The King was nodding with the dignity of his position, but Kaoru thought he seemed relieved in no small amount. Had this been the least he could ask for?

Her face burned a little redder as the ladies of he court tittered over her status as "companion". Empty-headed little lapdogs…All they could smell was a salacious scandal, even in the face of such bizarre magic. Kaoru almost pitied them. Her scorn for them nearly made her miss the graceful bow Kenshin made to the King. She scrambled for a rough country curtsey and scampered after him. Pages met them at the Hall's internal door and led them through the castle to a plus suite of rooms. Kenshin put in a request for a meal and hot water for both of them, then collapsed into an overstuffed armchair, pulling Kaoru with him so that she fell into his lap. She yelped as she fell, but the security of his arms around her and the liquid heat of his body was seductive enough to her tired, trail-sore body that she melted against him, sighing contentedly. He had changed so much since his escape. Oh, he still seemed frail and emaciated, and she was still reminded of a stalking lion whenever she looked into his golden eyes, but he was no longer a lion going mad. His eyes seemed clearer, and even his scent had changed from blood and smoke to clean wind and autumn leaves.

A change in his breathing told her he had fallen asleep, so she eased off his lap to sit beside him—the chair was plenty wide for both of their small frames—draped her legs across his lap, and let herself doze for a while, until the page brought their suppers.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Well, now. We're coming to an end of this story. Expect a short epilouge a little later, and sooner, a chapter of Movement and a chapter of Spring, Winter, Summer, Fall. Sorry these aren't longer, but I'm dead tired and sore from shoveling too much snow. Have a good one, people. 


End file.
